Posted by From Onwuka Nzeshi in Abuja on
The National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has dissociated its members from the recent mayhem that hit Onitsha, the commercial never centre of Anambra State.
The National Association of Road Transport Owners (NARTO) has dissociated its members from the recent mayhem that hit Onitsha, the commercial never centre of Anambra State.
It condemned the wanton killing and destruction of property in Anambra State, describing the development as unfortunate and barbaric.
The association however took exception to the attempt by the Anambra State Government to link it to the mayhem.
In a statement signed by the National Operations Coordinator of NARTO, Alhaji Lawal Isa and Executive Secretary, Barrister E.B. Kanawa, the association acknowledged that there had been complaints that some of its members were perpetrating crisis in Anambra State in the recent past, but stressed that it had nothing to do with such activities.
As an association of investors in the road transport industry in Nigeria, we want to state in unmistakable and unequivocal terms that NARTO is not and cannot be an association of hooligans, criminals and evil people. NARTO has no hands whatsoever in the carnage and does not in any way support it, neither does it aid nor abet same as the recent crisis remains condemnable and unacceptable.
The fact still remains that Anambra State branch of NARTO had since been hijacked by some powerful forces in that state and have christened it Park Management Committee (PMC). The PMC had become the umbrella under which all the evils and criminalities were executed in that state. The target of the PMC is the political and economic soul of the state through regular collection and extortion of tolls at the motor parks in Anambra State," the association said.
It regretted that though these facts have been made known to the state government, Nigeria Police and State Security Service by the national body of the association, the impression was still being created that NARTO was still functioning in the state and was responsible for the various incidents of criminality.
The association therefore urged the law enforcement agencies to fish out all those involved in the recent mayhem in Onitsha and its environs and prosecute them as a deterrent to others.